Andrew Jackson Downing was born in 1815 in Newburgh, NY where his father
owned a nursery specializing in apples and pears. He started helping out
in the nursery at a young age and then he and his brother took over running
it. In 1838 he became sole owner of the nursery.

He became very well known and popular, but not as a nurseryman. He developed
the art of American landscape architecture. In 1841 he wrote Treatise
on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America.
He then went on to write Cottege Residences in 1842 and
Architecture of Country Houses in 1850. He became Editor of Horticulturalist
in 1846 and his editorials were published as Rural Essays in 1853.

Downing developed his view that country residences should fit into the
surrounding landscape and blend with its natural habitat. He also believed
that architecture should be functional and that designs for residences
should be both beautiful and functional. In the beginning of his Architecture
of Country Houses is a lengthy essay on the real meaning of architecture.
He wrote that even the simplest form of architecture should be an expression
of beauty, but the design should never neglect the useful for the beautiful.
He went on to say that "(in) perfect architecture no principle of utility
will be sacrificed to beauty, only elevated and ennobled by it". He considered
landscape gardening and architecture to be an art.

In Cottege Residences he published the designs for 28 houses,
in addition to the house, the designs included the plans for laying
out the gardens, orchards,grounds and even included various plants to be
used. In his Architecture of Country Houses he included designs
for cottages, farmhouses and villas and commented on interiors, furniture
and even the best methods of warming and ventilating them. Some of his
designs were very simple and affordable so that all classes of society
could enjoy life outside of the city. His own residence, Highland Gardens,
in Newburgh was quite large with meticulous grounds and many greenhouses
with plants and trees from around the world brought to him by his whaling
father-in-law.

Through the publication of his designs, he is credited with the popularization
of the front porch. He saw the porch as the link from the house to
nature. Building porches had just become easier due to the advance in building
methods, and these two factors together resulted in so many front
porches on residences at that time. At the same time many people were moving
from the city to the surrounding countryside because of the advent of
railway and steamship transportation. Downing believed interacting with
nature had a healing effect on mankind and wanted all people to be able
to experience nature.

By 1850 he was a celebrity and was commissioned to design and landscape
the area around the Capitol and Whitehouse into a national park. Lafayette
Square is still unchanged from his original design. He was also commissioned
to landscape the grounds around the Smithsonian Institute. In 1850 he went
to England where he studied English landscape design and where he met Calvert
Vaux. When Downing returned to America, Vaux came with him and together
they designed and constructed the homes and gardens of many of the country
estates along the Hudson River. Downing also introduced Vaux to his friend
Frederick Law Olmstead.

At that time NY City was small, crowded and unhealthy with raw sewage
in the streets. Since the poor couldn't leave the city for the healthier
country, Downing proposed a big park for the city. Together Downing, Vaux
and Olmstead developed proposals and plans for a large park which would
allow the upper class a rural place to go and be comfortable as well
as provide a rural experience for the poor. It would include gardens, zoos,concert
halls, art galleries. a science museum, horticultural societies and a free
dairy. Downing believed that all cities should have parks.

Before these plans could be reality Downing was killed in 1852 at the
age of 36 when a steamer that was taking him and his family from Newburgh
to NYC. His wife and children survived the explosion and she and their
friends put up a monument to him in the shape of an urn that was at his
home in Newburgh. They inscribed on it words that he had written " Plant
spacious parks in your cities, and loose their gates as wide as the morning,
to the whole people." The Downing Urn is in the Enid A. Haupt Garden in
the Smithsonian.

A present day company, Downing and Associates offering landscape architecture
design and construction is run by John Downing, a descendent.